Trauma energy can be released during a massage. Learn how to recognize that energy, hold space for it, and help your client heal it, using principles of Somatic Experiencing.

Basic Watsu

This class has been revived to give anyone interested in aquatic healing a taste of the Watsu experience and provide a solid foundation for further Watsu study.

Foundations of Touch

This three day course will introduce you to a broad, hands-on overview of the body's relationship to touch, helping to build a foundation from which to pursue any style of bodywork.

Compassionate Communication

Learn how to deal with challenging client situations in your practice, with empathy and grace. This class will explore real, everyday scenarios through role-play and practical processes.

Massage Boosters

This powerful three day class will help you expand your skills, refine your technique, deepen your presence, care for yourself and bring your work to the next level.

Healing Dance - Above & Below

Above & Below takes Watsu's basic moves underwater and extends this idea to the whole session, introducing a variety of takedown moves from the repertoire of the Healing Dance.

Call to Presence,

Sacred Breath, Sacred Body

and Transformational PracticesUsing body based inquiry, breath-work, meditation, guided visualization, contemplative communication, art, movement and journaling, we will deepen awareness of presence as the foundation for work on ourselves and each other.

Sacred Shapes

In this weekend workshop we will come to understand our personal relation to ancient symbols and how, translated into the three-dimensional kinetic movement shapes of aquatic bodywork, they can serve as doorways to healing.

Aquanatomy

Aquanatomy gives a dynamic "hands on", interactive approach on the anatomy, physiology and kinesiology essential to aquatic bodywork, both above and below the water.

Starting in January of 2015, the Harbin School of Healing Arts will begin a new payment policy. Students who pay their tuition balance less than 10 calendar days before the first day of class will have a surcharge of 5% of the class tuition added to their payment. This will apply to all kinds of students, including residents and those auditing classes.
Timely payments will help streamline the registration and class check-in process, making your arrival and first day of class smooth and stress-free!

MASSAGE NEWS

Changes to CAMTC and California Massage Certification Laws

As most of you know, the law that created CAMTC was set to expire soon, and Gov. Brown signed the bill this past Fall that continued its existence and mandate, with some significant changes. Beginning January 1, 2015, California massage professionals will only be able to become a Certified Massage Therapist, after completing 500 Hours of massage training from CAMTC-approved schools, AND passing a CAMTC-approved massage test, such as the MBLEx. The former 250 Hour Certified Massage Practitioner level will no longer be granted by CAMTC, but will be recognized if applied for and granted prior to Dec. 31, 2014.

The California massage certificate is still not required, and each city and/or county will still have its own requirement for the amount of massage training required to practice massage. For most of California, those hours range between 100 and 250 hours. Because many of our students prefer to begin their careers in stages, and most of them can begin practicing legally with less than 500 hours even without a state certificate, the Harbin School of Healing Arts will still offer our 258 Hour Massage Practitioner Training Program as a great way to build a foundation for a successful massage career.

For more information on the changes in California massage certificate laws, visit www.camtc.org

Harbin School of Healing Arts is approved by:

School Staff:

Director: Inika Spence

Registrar: Shane Powers

Receptionist: Chantal Contant

Receptionist/Marketing: Jocelyn Paul

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

Inika Spence, Director of Harbin School of Healing Arts

Hello friends!

December marked the end of our first year as Harbin School of Healing Arts. The School continues to thrive, and our 2015 schedule has some wonderful new classes. This has been a year of vision - for the school, for Harbin, for our community and our students. We continually learn that vision takes time, patience and intention - things we don't always feel ready to give. But that space we create always pays us back with future abundance!

We are in the planning stages for a new campus at the Oneness Institute - a 4,400 acre ranch l
ocated just fifteen minutes away from Harbin's front gate. The land has a quiet beauty, with huge oak trees, big valleys and Putah Creek running alongside it. The campus will unite the land and water classes in one place - with classrooms, teacher and student housing, a dining hall and administration building, and hot, cold and warm pools to enjoy. The buildings will be built sustainably, and in alignment with the nature of the land.

In October we had our first Instructor Meeting. Many of our current and past instructors in land and water modalities spent a few days at Harbin, helping school staff envision the future of the school. I was so pleased by the enthusiasm and passion our teachers have for the school. Some of the highlights that came out of the meeting were:

1. Bring cohesion into the curriculum by using guiding principles that flow through all the classes, instead of having a collection of individual classes. The principles are: Heart Consciousness, Multidimensionality, Self-Awareness, Relational, Grounded, Knowledgeable, Skilled, Energy Awareness and Integrity.

2. Defining what a Harbin Bodyworker and Harbin Aquatic Bodyworker would be, and creating curriculum for 2016. These programs will replace the 558 and 788 hour land and water programs. They will be approximately 500-600 hour programs featuring current and new classes that conform to the new state regulations. More to come on this!

3. We had a visioning/dreaming session with the question: What is your highest vision for Harbin School of Healing Arts? What is your role? There were some wonderful visions of caring - for the land, the community, families, and reminders not to forget about the importance of looking at the "shadow" side of ourselves without fear, but with support and love.

We welcome your thoughts, dreams and visions to these questions too.

Instructor Dream Week: Many of our Instructors were able to attend, in addition to the School Staff and helpful friends.

Happy New Year!

RECENT CLASS NEWS

Advanced Therapeutic Massage:

Instructor: Ed Lark

Sixteen enthusiastic souls attended the Advanced Therapeutic Massage class in late November and early December, and they had a fantastic five days of learning under the experienced guidance of instructor Ed Lark. Some of the students had decades of massage experience, others were very new to the profession, and this helped create an exciting environment o
f discovery and co-teaching. The more experienced students deepened their own knowledge, self-care and skills, while helping Ed introduce new concepts and techniques to less-experienced students.

Student Feedback:

"Ed was very knowledgeable, present, and answered questions thoroughly." A. L.
"I learned new techniques that will fit seamlessly into my work." D. G.
"Ed's knowledge and humor were great! I feel more prepared to help my clients with specific issues." S. B.

Clinical Ai Chi: E.A.S.Y.

(Energetic Aquatic Shiatsu Yoga)

Instructors: Shinzo Fujimaki

Shinzo spent three very busy weeks at Harbin in October and November, teaching Shiatsu 1, 2 and 3 - and still had more than enough energy to squeeze in his own creation, the Clinical Ai Chi: E.A.S.Y class. This land and water class takes aspects of Shiatsu, Five Element Theory, Ai Chi and Yoga to create a very relaxing, therapeutic set of movements and exercises that can be done on land or in water. Students from all walks and stages of life enjoyed the class, from twenty-somethings to octogenarians. Shane and Chantal (the school's Registrar and Receptionist, respectively) took the class and came back to work the following Monday even more relaxed and peaceful than usual.
Thank you, Shinzo!

Student Feedback:

"Very well presented. Loved the light-hearted teaching style, and the easy-to-understand, detailed information." A. S.
"Loved the self-healing aspects, the practice & repetition, and especially Shinzo's humor." M. L.
"Loved the class bonding and the motivation and joie de vivre of Shinzo and Asami." L. C.

One of the best things I ever did for my practice was to actually let go of the idea that I was the "healer," and therefore responsible for some kind of specific outcome in my client. Of course, we all talk a good game about "natural healing" coming from within our healing partner. But when it comes down to putting our hands on a paying client, it can feel like a leap of faith to move away from the belief that more techniques will yield more results. After all, we go to school in order to get the tools of our trade. And obviously, we need to know what we are doing and develop our skills. But all too often, we delude ourselves into thinking that our knowledge base and technical skills alone are what make us effective therapists. Let's look closer.

Trust the Horse, Let Go of the HeroIn energetic healing work, we aren't out fixing people, but rather meeting them at the deepest available level. It is out of that deep, intimate meeting that all else arises. If we are going to split hairs, there is an agenda in energetic healing work, but it is a very wide open, spacious agenda. We are not trying to determine specific outcomes or take away a symptom or make the other person "better" according to some standard or norm, but rather to connect compassionately and deeply with the process at hand and let things unfold as they unfold. You stay in the saddle and trust the horse to know the way back to the barn. Given space and a bit of support, human consciousness heads all by itself toward balance, healing and wholeness. When you trust that, you can then be there to facilitate, which, as the word says, means to "make easier" the process. It's un-heroic, but it's still a lot.
(parts excerpted from
A Pilgrim in Your Body: Energy Healing and Spiritual Process, by Jim Gilkeson)

Jim Gilkeson, BA, CMT, CST is a creative bodywork therapist, teacher of energy healing and the author of: "Energy Healing: A Pathway to Inner Growth" and "A Pilgrim in Your Body: Energy Healing and Spiritual Process". Jim taught Craniosacral 1, 2 and 3 at the School of Shiatsu & Massage for over seven years and is back by student request to teach Craniosacral 3.

OUR NEW LOGO

Introducing our logo and mission statement:

The mission of the Harbin School of Healing Arts is to nurture and inspire each student in finding and embodying their fullest potential. Our vision is the conscious healing of individuals, communities and the environment through integrative programs of bodywork and teacher trainings on land and in water.

Our logo was created by our own very talented resident artist, Ruth Richards. Her familiarity with the school, deep connection to the Harbin land and her amazing artistic skills made her the ideal artist to embody our school in a logo.

About Ruth Richards:

For over 20 years, Ruth has been nourished as an artist and healer through her association with the Harbin community. Her activities at Harbin have included graphic design, illustration and tending the Garden. Her commitment to community extends beyond Harbin and led her to a degree in Culture, Ecology and Sustainable Community, and then on to a study of Chinese Medicine. She now practices acupuncture and herbal medicine in Middletown. She is currently a member of the Harbin Ministers' Training program and is exploring ways to more deeply serve the community on a spiritual level.

Her approach to her art finds congruence in her understanding of both healing and spirituality. An apparent complexity in conceptualization, symptoms or details can be whittled down to essence, health and vision. Pattern recognition, through studious attention, provides insights into the relationship between macro and microcosm. In her art, the essence of a vision may be reduced to an apparently simple image of positive and negative shapes. Her artwork celebrates wholeness, wellness and oneness.

Thank you Ruth, we love it!!

JANUARY 2015 -STUDENT SPOTLIGHT

We're very proud of our students, some who have been taking classes at the school since the mid-1970s, and who come from all walks of life, locations around the world, and have used their knowledge to heal in so many different ways. We will be featuring one student each time we send a newsletter. This month, we would like to introduce you to:

Elizabeth Davidman:
Massage Intensive, July 2014

From Elizabeth -

I'm happy to share about my experience at Harbin. It was instrumental in me taking the steps to open my own studio!

In the marketing portion of the class Keesha gave us great pointers and a framework for running an organized, professional business. She went into detail about book-keeping, marketing and other important things to consider. We explored the options after leaving her class, (whether to open a business or work at a spa, etc.)

Doing trades daily and also in the evenings with classmates helped me gain proficiency in the techniques. Our teacher assistant was even available and willing to give us pointers after class! Keesha's willingness to speak one on one about situations that arose during class was something I really appreciated. It was an open, comfortable healing space that enabled me to push my own boundaries as a practitioner in a safe way.

The practicum* was an amazing experience for me because it really helped to give me the confidence in the skills I learned during the class. My "client" was impressed with my abilities and gave me positive feedback which encouraged me to push myself to do more massage work and start my own business.

* We gave a massage to someone not in our class.

Elizabeth lives in Marin County, California, where she has her own private massage practice. She recently became CMP certified with CAMTC and is certified in Pregnancy Massage.